Alternate Side

A Novel

Some days Nora Nolan thinks that she and her husband, Charlie, lead a charmed life--except when there's a crisis at work, a leak in the roof at home, or a problem with their twins at college. And why not? New York City was once Nora's dream destination, and her clannish dead-end block has become a safe harbor, a tranquil village amid the urban craziness. Then one morning she returns from her run to discover that a terrible incident has shaken the neighborhood, and the fault lines begin to open: on the block, at her job, especially in her marriage. With humor, understanding, an acute eye, and a warm heart, Anna Quindlen explores what it means to be a mother, a wife, and a woman at a moment of reckoning.

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Alternate Side by Anna Quindlen is a story about New Yorkers, though not necessarily those native to the city, but those who have become successful and thrive on its energy and eccentricities.
Nora Nolan and her husband, Charlie, are two of those people as are their neighbours, a privileged few who live on a street that is unique in that it is short and a dead end, allowing limited access and maximum exclusivity.
What makes this book so entertaining is Quindlen’s excellent characterization and authentic dialogue. Indeed, this book has very little plot at all with the inciting incident not even arriving until nearly halfway through the book.
The event that starts this cliquish neighbourhood unravelling is when one of the neighbours brutally assaults Ricky, the handyman for the entire enclave, with a golf club because he blocked the entrance to the exclusive neighbourhood parking lot.
Though the reader might expect dramatic revelations there aren’t any, everything is resolved in a civilized manner, as befitting these very civilized people.
The worst that Quindlen can evoke is the falling out between some neighbours re-enforcing in this reader that you’re often better off not getting to know people too well.
The ending has some uninspired musing by the protagonist about the road untaken. I had the impression the author hoped an appropriate ending would present itself and it didn’t, or it did, and she didn’t have the courage to write it.
I'm not sure if Alternate Side was an entertaining story about nothing or a story about everything, but nothing specific.

Her other books are much better. I felt the first 240 pages set up the last 40. Nothing really happened in those first 240 pages - nothing to hook you into reading the rest. I did enjoy the last 40 pages - but it took a LONG time to get there.

This book Pulled me in at the beginning but it left me disappointed and bored toward the end.
The set-up was great: an insulated upper middle class Manhattan neighborhood gets shook up when one of their own assaults Ricky, their much-needed handyman. But it turns out the story was more about the unraveling of marriages and finances then about any concern for Ricky. I did not care for any of the characters, other than Ricky and a Haitian nanny called Charity. All the rest seemed to spend their idle time being cleverly sarcastic and complaining about food served at all the ubiquitous dinner parties. In the meantime, Ricky is forgotten in the hospital with a lost leg. A city person could probably appreciate more what this author is trying to say.

Quindlen is always fun to read, but I struggled with this one. There is a lot of sympathy here for rich people behaving badly, getting off scott-free with no one really having to face up to the consequences of their actions, beyond moments of "feeling stupid." I went into the book expecting it to be a book about what happens when working class and upper class lives intersect, but it turns out that this is just the backdrop for a novel about marriage. I was also left wondering why Nora did not stand up more to her boorish husband and neighbors.

The dead end street of this novel is metaphorical
And oxymoronic : while dogs , neighbours and marriages die-
There is life leaving it.
Everything that happens here - happens everywhere else.
The only difference?
In the end Almost everyone comes out on top.
Written with humour and insight..Quindlen gives us
The happy ending we all long for.

Not Anna Quindlen's best. The tension between have's and have not's is a bit trite.

Yet, the book redeems itself with an honest portrayal of family and neighborhood dynamics in NYC. I read it in one day and didn't want to put it down. I was drawn into the life of the central character, Nora Nolan. And, I loved the honest portrayal of lives behind closed doors that don't glitter quite as brightly as the inhabitants pretend.

What at first seems to be an exploration of a New York City neighbourhood actually morphs into an examination of a disintegrating marriage. I loved the characters, flaws and all. And as always, I really enjoyed Quindlen's writing style.

A big thank you to Random House and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book and at times I did enjoy it. NYC is a compelling setting for a book and I did appreciate that facet of the book the very most. We are viewing a dead end block in southern Manhattan from the viewpoint of Nora, an empty nester in her early 50's. Events large and small converge together and like dominoes changes happen around Nora and in her own life, her marriage included. Some of this book rang true for me, other parts did not. Anna's writing style is one that from time to time suddenly gives you an aha moment. There were a few in this novel, but this was not my favorite of the Anna Quindlen books I have read so far.